Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Manhattan, Kansas » Center for Grain and Animal Health Research » Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #413758
Research Project: Mobilizing Genetic Resources and Technologies for Breeding Profitable, Resilient, and Nutritious Hard Winter Wheat

Location: Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research

Title: A glutathione s-transferase from thinopyrum ponticum Confers (Fhb7) resistance to fusarium head blight in wheat

Author
item ZHAO, LANFEI - Kansas State University
item Bernardo, Amy
item KONG, FANMEI - Kansas State University
item ZHAO, WEI - Kansas State University
item DONG, YANHOUNG - University Of Minnesota
item LEE, HYEONJU - Kansas State University
item TRICK, HAROLD - Kansas State University
item NOLLER, JESSICA RUPP - Kansas State University
item Bai, Guihua

Submitted to: Phytopathology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/30/2024
Publication Date: 7/11/2024
Citation: Zhao, L., Bernardo, A.E., Kong, F., Zhao, W., Dong, Y., Lee, H., Trick, H., Noller, J., Bai, G. 2024. A glutathione s-transferase from thinopyrum ponticum Confers (Fhb7) resistance to fusarium head blight in wheat. Phytopathology. 114:1458-1461. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-03-24-0106-SC.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-03-24-0106-SC

Interpretive Summary: Fusarium head blight (FHB) has caused great losses in grain yield and quality of wheat globally. Fhb7 from a wheatgrass confers high FHB resistance in wheat. Recent gene cloning work identified it as a glutathione S-transferase (GST). Further validate the gene function of GST in wheat FHB resistance, we phenotyped Fhb7 near-isogenic lines and GST over-expressed transgenic lines for FHB resistance and confirmed that the lines with high GST expression showed significantly higher FHB resistance by reducing PSS, FDK and DON concentration. Knockout of GST in an Fhb7 resistant line using gene-editing significantly increased FHB susceptibility compared with the non-edited controls, confirming that GST is Fhb7 for FHB resistance.

Technical Abstract: Fusarium head blight (FHB), mainly incited by Fusarium graminearum Schwabe, has caused great losses in grain yield and quality of wheat globally. Fhb7, a major gene from 7E chromosome of Thinopyrum ponticum conferring broad resistance for FHB resistance in wheat, has recently been cloned to encode a glutathione S-transferase (GST). However, some recent reports raised doubt about if GST is the causal gene of Fhb7. To resolve the discrepancy and validate the gene function of GST in wheat, we phenotyped Fhb7 near-isogenic lines (Jimai22-Fhb7 vs Jimai22) and GST over-expression lines for FHB resistance. Jimai22-Fhb7 showed significantly higher FHB resistance with a lower PSS, FDK and DON concentration than susceptible Jimai22 in three experiments. All the positive GST transgenic lines driven by either the maize ubiquitin promoter (MubiP) or its native promoter (NP) with high gene expression in the wheat cultivar ‘Fielder’ showed high FHB resistance. Only one MubiP-driven transgenic line showed low GST expression and similar susceptibility as Fielder, suggesting high GST expression confers Fhb7 FHB resistance. Knockout of GST in Jimai22-Fhb7 line using CRISPR-Cas9-based gene-editing showed significantly higher FHB susceptibility compared with the non-edited control plants. Therefore, we confirmed GST as the causal gene of Fhb7 for FHB resistance. Considering its major effect on FHB resistance, pyramiding Fhb7 with other QTLs has a great potential to create highly FHB-resistant wheat cultivars.